U.S. closes embassy in Syria as mayhem escalates

New York Times

Published 7:42 pm, Monday, February 6, 2012

The United States closed its embassy in Syria on Monday and withdrew all staff members amid escalating mayhem in what U.S. officials called the Syrian government's unbridled repression of an 11-month-old uprising that has become the bloodiest conflict in the Arab revolts.

The confrontation in Syria has turned even more violent and more unpredictable, while diplomatic efforts have largely collapsed, save for a Russian delegation visiting Damascus, the capital, today.

Both the Syrian government and its opposition have signaled that each believes the grinding conflict will be resolved only through force of arms.

News Channel

For weeks, Western embassies have reduced their staffs.

On Monday, Britain also recalled its ambassador for consultations. Echoing a cascade of diplomatic invective, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, described the mounting violence as yet more evidence that President Bashar Assad had no option but to surrender power.

“This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime,” he said in a statement to the House of Commons. “There is no way it can recover its credibility internationally.”

Related Stories

Although the government has pressed forward with a crackdown in the suburbs of Damascus and a rugged northern region around the town of Idlib, the city of Homs has witnessed the most pronounced violence. Opposition groups said Syrian government forces again shelled the city, despite international condemnations over a similar attack Friday and Saturday that they said killed more than 200 people.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement on its website that the United States had “suspended operations of our embassy in Damascus,” and that Ambassador Robert S. Ford “and all American personnel have now departed the country.”

Reiterating concerns voiced earlier, it said the closing reflected “serious concerns that our embassy is not protected from armed attack.”

“The deteriorating security situation that led to the suspension of our diplomatic operations makes clear once more the dangerous path Assad has chosen and the regime's inability to fully control Syria,” said a department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.

The State Department announcement did not specify where the embassy staff had gone, but U.S. officials said they had relocated temporarily to neighboring Jordan.

The announcement said Ford would “continue his work and engagement with the Syrian people as head of our Syria team in Washington.”

The announcement stopped short of a formal break in U.S. diplomatic relations with Syria but was considered a strong signal that Obama administration officials believe there is nothing left to talk about with Assad.